As Barack Obama takes the oath of office for his second term, Places editor Nancy Levinson argues for an intensified political agenda for architects and urban designers.
The longstanding tension between the pressing need for public action and the tenacious culture of privatization remains the critical dilemma of U.S. politics.
Nothing underscores the need to resolve this tension — and to commit once again to the ideals of collective purpose and common good — than the accelerating crisis of climate change.
"We seem to have lost the political capacity to grapple with the big picture, the long range, the global scale," Levinson writes. "To a degree we've even lost the vocabulary."
"In design circles it's as if the perceived failures of mid 20th-century planning — exemplified by top-down urban renewal and personified by the power-brokering Robert Moses — have induced a kind of conceptual paralysis, an inability to formulate the public sector, or public works, in terms not beholden to a discredited history."
FULL STORY: After the Storm: Climate Change and Public Works
Scott Pruitt and the 'Paradigm Shift' at Trump's EPA
In just his first year, the high-profile and controversial cabinet member “has begun to dismantle former president Barack Obama’s environmental legacy.”
Op-Ed: Obama's Weak Climate Change Legacy
David Bookbinder argues that the Obama Administration dragged its feet on climate change, only implementing last-minute actions that will be easy to reverse.
Has President Obama Turned the Corner on Climate Change?
Analysts have noted a change in the president on climate change in his second term. Call it a "message shift". Rather than addressing it in terms of the need for clean energy and renewables, he now speaks directly to the perils of climate change.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.
Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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